All-Tunicate Cellulose Film with Good Light Management Properties for High-Efficiency Organic Solar Cells

Abstract

Tunicate nanocellulose with its unique properties, such as excellent mechanical strength, high crystallinity, and good biodegradability, has potential to be used for the preparation of light management film with tunable transmittance and haze. Herein, we prepared a whole tunicate cellulose film with tunable haze levels, by mixing tunicate microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) and tunicate cellulose nanofibrils (CNF). Then, the obtained whole tunicate cellulose film with updated light management was used to modify the organic solar cell (OSC) substrate, aiming to improve the light utilization efficiency of OSC. Results showed that the dosage of MFC based on the weight of CNF was an important factor to adjust the haze and light transmittance of the prepared cellulose film. When the dosage of MFC was 3 wt.%, the haze of the obtained film increased 74.2% compared to the pure CNF film (39.2%). Moreover, the optimized tunicate cellulose film exhibited excellent mechanical properties (e.g., tensile strength of 168 MPa, toughness of 5.7 MJ/m3) and high thermal stability, which will be beneficial to the workability and durability of OSC. More interestingly, we applied the obtained whole tunicate cellulose film with a high haze (68.3%) and high light transmittance (85.0%) as an additional layer to be adhered to the glass substrate of OSC, and a notable improvement (6.5%) of the power conversion efficiency was achieved. With the use of biodegradable tunicate cellulose, this work provides a simple strategy to enhance light management of the transparent substrate of OSC for improving power conversion efficiency.

Transparent Cellulose/Lignin Composite Films with Adjustable Haze and UV-Blocking Performance for Light Management

“…Cellulose, as the most abundant natural polymer on the earth, is mainly extracted (e.g., by pulping technology) from plants such as wood, cotton, bamboo, and grass. , In recent years, cellulose-based transparent films fabricated via various methods have been developed for application in light management. − Nanocellulose, including cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), is generally fabricated from cellulose fibers by chemical and/or mechanical treatment and has been used to prepare transparent light-management films . However, the high cost and complicated manufacturing process of nanocellulose limit the large-scale production of all nanocellulose-based transparent films .…”